Hypoxia is a pathological condition characterised by low oxygenation of a tissue, organ or body region, and therefore the oxygen demand in the zone in question cannot be fully met. An increased metabolic demand in the zone in question, a partial or total reduction of blood supply due to loss or partial or total obstruction of blood vessels, a reduction of the amount of oxygen transported by the haemoglobin or the amount of oxygen in the haemoglobin itself are among the most common causes of hypoxia. In particular, the term tissue hypoxia is used to indicate a hypoxic phenomenon limited to a determined tissue.
The subjects most exposed to this pathological condition are the elderly, due to the fact that old age causes the natural reduction of the blood vessels and/or of the blood flow rate, particularly concerning the cardiac muscle and the brain. As a matter of fact, it has been proven that an elderly person reduces the number, flexibility and arborisation of vessels while the thickness of the wall of the vessel increases reducing the volume of the duct. This leads to poor blood perfusion and lower oxygen supply, which are principally the main causes of vascular and cerebrovascular problems observed in such subjects. Tissue hypoxia is also observable, in some forms, in non-elderly subjects, for example subjects affected by stenosis, i.e. the narrowing of the blood vessels, such to hinder normal blood flow.
An option for the treatment of subjects affected by tissue hypoxia consists in improving the tissue blood flow inducing the formation of new blood cells, or the “sprouting” of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, referred to as “angiogenesis” or “neoangiogenesis”; therapeutic interventions aimed at inducing the growth of the number of blood vessels are generally identified as “therapeutic angiogenesis”. Currently, the treatments most commonly used in the field of therapeutic angiogenesis are based on the use of proteins or growth factors, such as for example FGF and VEGF. However, such treatments have some adverse effects difficult to bear for an elderly subject.
In some cases the elderly subjects were treated using the medical preparations deemed to be angiogenetic in an acute manner and for a short period of time. For example, in post operation conditions an intra-arterial, intravenous, intramuscular administration of such substances is deemed necessary: this kind of treatment may contribute to improving the general medical conditions of the patient, but it can simultaneously be a source of discomfort for the debilitated elderly subject and not intervene on the need for the revascularization of the damaged tissue.
It is clear that in the elderly subject, the reduced functionality of the cardiac muscle and of the cerebral activities, partially depending on the reduction of the amount of oxygen provided through blood supply, could benefit from an angiogenic process in the long run. Therefore, there arises the need for new compositions even administered over long periods of time, thus preferably for chronic use, such compositions being administered through non-invasive means, particularly oral means, and above all easily bearable by elderly subjects, and which are capable of activating an effective angiogenic process in the most deprived regions, such as heart and brain.